Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners is acquiring a 50% stake in the Western Expressway for $175 million, which is being jointly developed by real estate firm Unitech Ltd and their local Mumbai partners. Post-deal Unitech and partners would hold 50% of the stake in the project, while the rest 50% has been acquired by Lehman Brothers.
Architecture firm, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) has been hired to design the master plan for the broader project which envisions over 100 acre mixed-use development containing office, retail, residential and hotel components in Mumbai.
The JV aims to create one of the most high profile developments in Mumbai, with a character and management along the lines of Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, Canary Wharf in London, and Battery Park in New York.
With Mumbai’s commercial and social life being “re-centered” around Bandra and Worli, the project’s proximity to the established Bandra Kurla Complex business district (BKC), the affluent northern suburbs of Bandra, Khar and Santacruz, as well as the airport, road and public transport links, make it one of the central office locations in Mumbai. The Master Project has over one kilometre of frontage on the Western Express highway and is bordered to the west by the Western Railway Line.
The two companies are planning to evaluate possibilities of joint venture in future over investments in subsequent phases of this master project as well as new projects in Unitech’s Mumbai and national portfolio.
Unitech Ltd is the country’s second largest real estate developer with a pan-India presence. Unitech’s real estate projects include residential complexes, golf course communities, integrated townships, amusement parks, commercial offices, IT parks and retail malls and it has large investments in various infrastructure projects.
